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Social Exchange and Generalized Trust in China

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Abstract

This paper examines how social relations and norms contribute to the emergence of generalized trust in economic action. Our core proposition is that the more positive the local social exchange relationship, the greater an actor’s propensity to place trust in strangers. Our research design integrates behavioral measures elicited by incentivized experimental trust games with survey data using a random sample of 540 founding CEOs of manufacturing firms in the Yangzi delta region of China. Our analysis shows that characteristics of repeated social exchange—depth, prosociality and control—are positively associated with an economic actor’s proclivity for generalized trust. Founder CEOs with deeper and more valued exchange relations are more likely to trust strangers. Likewise, we find robust evidence of a positive association between beliefs in the effectiveness of community social control and trust in strangers.

Suggested Citation

  • Nee, Victor & Opper, Sonja & Holm, Hakan J., 2014. "Social Exchange and Generalized Trust in China," Working Papers 2014:30, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2014_030
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:feb:framed:0074 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Ernst Fehr & John A. List, 2004. "The Hidden Costs and Returns of Incentives-Trust and Trustworthiness Among CEOs," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(5), pages 743-771, September.
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    4. Steven D. Levitt & John A. List, 2007. "What Do Laboratory Experiments Measuring Social Preferences Reveal About the Real World?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 153-174, Spring.
    5. Lai, Christine & Singh, Barjinder & Alshwer, Abdullah A. & Shaffer, Margaret A., 2014. "Building and Leveraging Interpersonal Trust Within and Across MNE Subsidiaries: A Social Exchange Perspective," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 312-326.
    6. Guido Tabellini, 2008. "The Scope of Cooperation: Values and Incentives," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 905-950.
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    9. Nee, Victor & Opper, Sonja, 2012. "Capitalism from Below: Markets and Institutional Change in China," Economics Books, Harvard University Press, number 9780674050204, Spring.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Generalized Trust; Networks; Social Exchange; Norms; CEOs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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